Politics and Processes of Nation-Building During and After Empire: A Review of the Irish Case through an Examination of School Textbooks

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the nation is taught, and retaught (with an emphasis on changing narratives of the nation), through the education system. Developments such as the printing press, modern communication methods, and a national education system are vital to this process. Therefore, an analysis of state-provided education garners insights into how nationalism is partially driven or motivated. By focusing on the Irish case it is possible to discern contrasting examples from colonial and post-colonial timeframes. Consequently, we are provided with instances of adjusting nationalist rhetoric, delivering evidence of how past events are narrated in accordance with present concerns. This will be achieved through a comparison of historical depictions in textbooks in Ireland whilst under the control of the British Empire and directly post-independence. Accordingly, two topics have been highlighted for this analysis. The first is the matter of empire and how it is viewed firstly under British rule and then under the Irish Free State. The second focus is the Irish Famine, and its depictions across the same two timeframes. These two subjects have been chosen for scrutiny as they are matters which lie at the very core of Irish national identity, both historically and to the present day.